Christmas at the Second Chance Chocolate Shop: Rabbits Leap #3 by Kellie Hailes

Kellie Hailes returns to the blog today with the third in her Rabbits Leap series – a wonderful village in England that makes small-town living so wonderfully intriguing and exasperating. A favorite series for sure – you’ll want to escape with these books. Please read on for my review of

Christmas at the Second Chance Chocolate Shop

This is Serena’s story – born on a small dairy farm in Rabbits Leap, she couldn’t wait to leave the town for university, and then met and married a rock star and headed to Malibu, never to return. She’s now back, after trying again with the family farm she’s going for her own joy and has rented a shop with a flat above to open a chocolate shop. One thing though: Serena never told Richie, her husband, that she was leaving, or why.

Of course, Richie finally pulls it together and comes to find her: looking for answers of how to get his muse back, since he’s not been able to write a thing since she left. But, as a famous rock star, the town could be inundated with paparazzi – and the “cone of silence’ is invoked, ensuring that anyone who leaked his presence will be shamed and shut out of town, denied service and trust. Yes, someone broke that cone, and Serena said “the words” that are traditional, before the miscreant ran out of town. But this is less about the quirks and eccentrics in and of the town, and all about a journey. The journey of Serena to find her own joy – without the love of her life in Ritchie. It’s about her own relationship with her mother, who believes that the Hunter women are meant to be farmers, nothing more or less – and Ritchie’s learning to share his history and past, and discovering that his ignoring of his past and shutting Serena out of his history, his pain and his story have little room left if he wants a relationship with the only woman he will ever love.

Serena’s searching for something that fulfills her as a person – allows her creativity to flourish and make ‘something’ of herself that isn’t a dairy farmer or a wife who shops is at the core of this story. Her coming to revel in the joy she finds in creation, her ability to stick with something instead of run when things are tough, and of finally being honest with Ritchie, explaining why she left and how much she was hurting every time he shut her out. Ritchie grows too, learning to deal with ‘the girls’ at the farm and finding an admirer in Daisy, stepping up to Serena’s mother and speaking a truth that started to heal that rift, finally starting to write again and sharing his life with her: and his guilt over losing his temper and yelling just before she left. Oh the hurts and healing are strong here: from unsolicited advice from an admirer of Serena’s to the annual Christmas parade and being the rear end of the donkey, the laughter sprinkled through the story keeps the tone hopeful and bright – even when things get rough. It’s truly a joyous Christmas when this story ends- full of laughter, love and hope.

Serena Hunter loves her new life in the sleepy Devonshire countryside! It’s a world away from her crazy past as the wife of American bad boy rock star, Ritchie Dangerfield.

Now she spends her days making delicious chocolate using milk from the local dairy and she finally feels that everything is back on track. That is, until her handsome ex-husband arrives in the village to win her back…

Away from the limelight, Serena gets to know Ritchie all over again and realises that maybe a second chance at love is the Christmas miracle she’d been dreaming of all along?

A perfectly festive read to curl up with this Christmas. Perfect for fans of Caroline Roberts, Cathy Bramley and Heidi Swain.

A copy of this title was provided via Publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

About Kellie Hailes

At the age of five Kellie Hailes declared she was going write books when she grew up. It took a while for her to get there, with a career as a radio copywriter, freelance copywriter and web writer filling the dream-hole, until now.

Kellie lives on an island-that’s-not-really-an-island in New Zealand with her patient husband, funny little human and neurotic cat. When the characters in her head aren’t dictating their story to her, she can be found taking short walks, eating good cheese and jonesing for her next coffee fix.